The out-of-favour Andy Carroll was loaned out to West Ham United on Friday and it appeared Liverpool would replace the forward to offer back-up to Luis Suarez.

They were linked with moves for Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge and also Clint Dempsey, with the latter subsequently joining Tottenham from Fulham after the Reds reportedly failed with a £4 million bid.

Owen, 32, is without a club after being released by Manchester United at the end of last season and is free to sign a for a new team outside of the transfer window, although he needs to sign early next week if he is to be certain of being eligible to play in Premier League matches before January.

All top-flight teams must submit their finalised 25-man squads for the first half of the season by 4pm on Tuesday. Later registrations have happened in the past, notably with Aston Villa signing Robert Pires, but are at the league's discretion and require the club involved to have an unfilled space in their 25-man list.

Liverpool could yet consider a swoop for their former attacker, who scored 118 league goals in 216 appearances before moving to Real Madrid in 2004.

Stoke have also been linked with Owen, although the club are wary of being able to match his wage demands, even on a structured pay-as-you-play deal.

Owen said on Saturday that he had "spoken to a few clubs", although he cautioned not to expect any sort of announcement before next week.

"I know who is interested but nothing will be done until next week," Owen said on Twitter. "Obviously can't tell you who I'm in talks with yet. I have an idea where I will go but you never know who else could enter the fray!"